Salesforce has implemented a fresh round of layoffs, targeting roles within its Agentforce, MuleSoft, and Marketing Cloud divisions, according to a report from Business Insider on Tuesday. The cuts, which include 86 positions across sales, general administration, technology, and product functions, come as the company deepens its bet on artificial intelligence agents while facing mounting investor pressure over its traditional per-seat licensing model.
The timing of the job reductions is significant. Salesforce is betting heavily that AI agents, which can autonomously perform tasks like updating customer records or handling support cases with minimal human intervention, will generate new revenue faster than they cannibalize its existing subscription-based business. However, the layoffs signal ongoing restructuring as the company seeks to align its workforce with this strategic shift.
Shares of Salesforce fell 4.6% to $174.13 in early afternoon trading in New York, extending a difficult year for the Dow component. The stock has now declined more than 30% in 2026, reflecting broader concerns about its growth trajectory and the pace of its AI-driven transformation.
According to Business Insider, one source familiar with the matter confirmed that the latest layoffs affected staff working on Agentforce, MuleSoft, and Marketing Cloud, as well as the company's IT integration tool. Another source corroborated the cuts but declined to specify the affected teams. Salesforce did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite the workforce reductions, Salesforce has touted early success with its AI initiatives. In its most recent earnings report, the company announced that Agentforce annualized recurring revenue (ARR) had exceeded $1 billion, reaching $1.2 billion. Combined AI and data ARR stood at $3.4 billion. Additionally, Salesforce reported that Agentforce and Slack had completed 3.8 billion "agentic work units," a metric that measures the number of AI agent tasks executed in production environments.
CEO Marc Benioff described agentic AI as the company's "biggest growth opportunity" during the May 27 earnings call. CFO Robin Washington emphasized that Salesforce is targeting "organic revenue acceleration" in the second half of fiscal 2027, driven by Sales, Service, Slack, Agentforce, and Data 360. However, the company's fiscal Q2 revenue guidance of $11.27 billion to $11.35 billion fell slightly below the analyst consensus of $11.36 billion, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
"The next few quarters will be critical to Salesforce," Valoir CEO Rebecca Wettemann told Reuters, highlighting the pressure to deliver results from both seat licenses and Agentforce. The broader software sector has experienced uneven trading as investors assess which companies will benefit from AI adoption and which may face disruption. Reuters reported last week that fund managers are increasingly favoring firms like Oracle and Microsoft that are adapting their pricing models to incorporate AI.
The layoffs also come amid a broader softening in the U.S. labor market. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S. employers announced 97,006 job cuts in May, with AI-related reductions accounting for 38,579, or 40% of all layoffs. The technology sector alone posted 38,242 cuts, the highest since August 2024.
For Salesforce, the risk extends beyond headcount reductions. If AI agents begin to erode demand for per-seat subscriptions faster than Agentforce can generate stable usage-based revenue, the company may be forced to continue cutting costs while simultaneously investing in growth. Balancing these competing priorities presents a significant challenge, and the latest layoffs have reignited concerns among investors about the company's ability to navigate this transition.
